THAT IS NOT WHAT I WANTED (2 Corinthians 12:1-10)

Transcription

1 THAT IS NOT WHAT I WANTED (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) Turn the clock back to when you were a young boy or girl and you had asked your folks for something very special (in your mind) for your birthday. Your folks probably tried to hint that you would not be getting what you had asked for but you did not catch the hints. And then when your birthday came and you opened your present you were very disappointed because what you had got is not what you asked for. I believe that we still experience this same problem in our Christian life today. We ask God for something and get something completely different and then we wonder why God has deserted us. Our sermon title today is THAT IS NOT WHAT I WANTED. Our reading comes from 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--god knows. And I know that this man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows-- was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.(niv) What does our story tell us? To be honest I think the first part tells us that Paul was a little bit deurmekaar but then out of the confusion of the verses comes a fantastic message. The bottom line of the message is that when we are weak when we are not where we want to be or when we get something that we do not want we are actually in a place where God can work with us and help us. As a child when we got something that we did not ask for or if we did not get

2 what we did ask for we learnt a big lesson we cannot always get what we want and sometimes it is then that we make the most of what we have and come out on top. In our reading we see that Paul says that he called out to God three times to take what he had got and not what he had asked for away. But nothing happened except that God said to him that His grace was enough so stop complaining. Paul called out to God three times in other words when he was weak, when he was not getting what he wanted he prayed. What can we learn from praying when we are not getting what we want? The first thing that we learn is that when we pray and demand we generally do not get what we ask for. Many people ask the question why is this happening to me? Let me rather ask you this question: Why should it NOT happen to you? You see Paul was a great guy. He was converted to believing in Christ and then went on to write nearly 2/3 of the New Testament. He travelled for 20 years doing the work that God had called him to do, he had been imprisoned, beaten and left for dead. Paul had every reason to say Why me yet he shared in our reading that it was in his weakness that he was strongest in God. I think that Paul teaches us an invaluable lesson in prayer. When we pray we should stop demanding and start submitting THEN God can start working with us. Let us read verse 7 of our text very carefully: To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.(niv) We are very quick to say why me but we need to see what Paul says. Paul does NOT blame God for what was happening to him, he does not blame God for the thorn in his side. He says clearly that the thorn comes from Satan to torment him. God allows the world to take its toll on us but He does not punish us. Allow our problems to be used by God to enrich us through His grace, start submitting to God and allowing God to get us out of our problems rather than demanding what we think is right. If we start praying in this way we come to my next point that we can take out of our reading. We are not in control of the world and so when we pray we need to hand over to God and allow Him to TAKE control of the situation. In this way, whatever happens we can glorify God because what has happened is what God knows we can handle rather than us demanding what must happen.

3 Let me return to our text to show you what I mean. In verse 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.(niv) In other words Paul prayed three times for God to sort the problem out. Reading between the lines Paul was trying to persuade God to do what He felt was right. Then God takes CONTROL and gives His divine answer in the first part of verse 9: But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you.(niv) God has NOT deserted Paul but has rather told Paul to trust Him and He will get what God knows he can handle. Are you demanding from God or are you submitting to God? If we submit we will always get what we wanted because what we are asking for is for God to take control. I can sum this part up in something that I saw on Face Book: Me: This is what I need. God: NO I am what you need. The last point on prayer that I want to highlight is that when we pray and demand there can never be any trust BUT when we pray handing over or submitting to God, we CAN TRUST. So when we pray we need to trust God and allow God to be God. Paul got this right. We see it in the second part of verse 9: 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."(niv) The only time we can be weak is when we are in submission to someone else. When we are in control we never feel that we are in a weak spot, we feel that we are one top of things in our own power. But then Paul goes on to say this: That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.(niv) I believe that there is significance in Paul mentioning these weaknesses and I will end today by sharing some of my thoughts on them. The first weakness Paul mentions is INSULTS. An insult is defined as: speak to or treat with disrespect or scornful abuse. I do not disagree with the definition but would like to add a bit to it. When you are insulted people break you down and make you look stupid. Maybe they break down your faith in God, your lifestyle or your actions at that time.

4 How many of us have been at work or at a game when someone has laughed at us because of our belief in Jesus. Well Paul is saying that in this weakness he is okay because God is glorified. If someone laughs at you because you believe in Jesus you have already planted a seed and the other people will remember the incident much better than if nothing was said. So instead of feeling down when you are insulted because of your belief or lifestyle in Jesus BE PROUD God is on your side and while none of us WANT to experience this when we submit to God we will actually feel good because of what happened to us. The second weakness that Paul mentions is HARDSHIPS. Hardship is defined as: severe suffering or privation (poverty). So how many of us WANT to suffer? Well I am sure that we all would shout out a big NO. I am sure that Paul would have done the same. But as life happens we find ourselves in situations that we would rather not be in.and it hurts. But God has not put us in the situation of hurt but has rather allowed hurt to happen because it is part of the world that we have created. But here is the good news. If we submit to God He will bring us through hurt that we never ever thought we could endure. Allow God to take control in these situations, you will be surprised at the result. The third weakness that Paul mentions is PERSECUTIONS. Now persecution is defined as: hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs. How many of us feel that they have been dealt a raw deal because of our belief in Jesus Christ? I am sure that most of us have had an experience like this some time in our lives. I also know that none of us enjoyed the time but I wonder how many of us look back and see how God carried us through the experience. Paul was persecuted to a degree that most of us would never experience but even in his persecution he praised God because he felt that it was God who was going to see him through the difficult times. Maybe we need to think about the same and instead of cursing when we find ourselves in a tight spot to rather call out to God in submission and allow Him to take you through the persecution. The last weakness that Paul mentions is DIFFICULTIES. This is defined as: a thing that is hard to accomplish, deal with or understand. As a Christian this weakness makes perfect sense to me because there are many times that I do not understand why God does certain things. But in Paul s situation I believe that he also feels that being a Christian is sometimes overwhelming, and that is not nice. The pressure of trying to follow the Word of God is often overpowering and we struggle with it. But NOTHING is bigger than God and so

5 we know that as we call out to God we will overcome the difficulties we face as Christians. And so in ending this sermon and indeed this short series I am sure that we have all learned that it is all about submitting to God and allowing God to work with us and NOT trying to find God performing worldly things. We get this right and we will realize that God does not disappear or desert us. God is always there for us and we need to choose to submit to Him to make sure that we are ALWAYS aware of His presence in our lives